KARACHI, Aug 6: The summer monsoon belatedly began on Friday night as heavy rain lashed the city, sending the transmission and distribution system of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation reeling and causing traffic jams on major highways.
Rains will continue intermittently for the next 48 hours, the country's top weather expert said on Friday. "Drought-like conditions were emerging in Balochistan and Sindh. The current rain spell will stop these conditions from worsening," director-general of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, Dr Qamaruzzaman Chaudhry, told Dawn.
A spokesman for the regional Met Office said that the observatories at the PAF Faisal Base, PAF Masroor Base and the airport recorded 4mm, 4mm and 5mm of rainfall, respectively.
The spokesman said the Met Office had forecast cloudy/partly cloudy weather with chances of rain for Saturday. He added that the maximum temperature in Karachi was expected to range between 34 degrees Centigrade and 36 degrees Centigrade.
Meanwhile, the rain that the city received on Friday evening sent the transmission and distribution system of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation reeling as fluctuations in voltage started in many localities immediately after the rain.
A resident of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Block 15, said that fluctuations in voltage started as soon as it started to rain in his locality. "Fluctuations in voltage are as bad as a power breakdown, because consumers have to switch off their home appliances lest they should break down. A large number of consumers lose their appliances to fluctuations in voltage every year. They should take the KESC to court for this," he said.
A consumer of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 4-A, said that a power breakdown occurred in his locality almost as soon as rain started. He recalled that of late his locality had been experiencing a lot of fluctuation in voltage supply.
A resident of Bahadurabad told Dawn it had drizzled for a little while in his area. "When my children started rejoicing at the rain, I told them that they were in for a power shutdown. Sure enough, we had a power cut before long," he said.
A resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 10-A, called Dawn at around 11.30pm to say that his locality had been without electricity for the past two hours. The areas that faced power breakdowns during the day included Defence, Malir, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Garden West, Parsi Colony, Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Korangi Industrial Area.
A spokesman for the KESC said that no major power breakdown occurred in the city after the rain. He added that the entire KESC machinery was well prepared to tackle the situation.
He said that all the complaint centres of the KESC were being monitored and they would attend to complaints as soon as they were reported. He said that voltage supply fluctuated when it rained after a long dry spell. Major highways of the city witnessed long traffic jams, caused by the panic created on the roads following the rains.
SHUTDOWN NOTICE: The KESC on Friday announced that for system improvement work being carried out by it, the power supply in the would be temporarily interrupted on Aug 9, from 9am to 2pm in the following areas: Scheme-33, KNS Poultry Farm, Rizvia Society, Prem Villas, AL-Muslim Society, Abdullah Rao Goth, Gulshan-e-Umair, Race Course, Saharanpur, Zohra Nagar, Arafat Arcade, North Karachi Sector-11-D, 4-C/1 and 14-B, adds PPI.